Tabalong's farmers reap benefit from edamame

Tanjung, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Edamame soybean brings good luck for farmers in Kambitin Village, Tabalong District.

The abundance of harvest with a high selling price and large market share made the green soybean produced abundant profits.

Edi Susapto, a farmer in Kambitin has proven it. He planted the bean, which originated from Japan, on tree plots of land with an area of 1,200 square meters.

The results were quite tantalizing. "One square meter can produce one kilogram of wet edamame," said Sapto in an interview on Friday, (6/11).

Sapto said, in the market, the selling price of edamame is quite high. The large size can be sold for IDR25 thousand per kg.

According to him, the price is stable and even tends to continue to increase. The reason is, the current market share of edamame is wide, buyers are many from out of the district, while farmers who plant are few.

"I ran out of stock and was overwhelmed with orders," said Sapto.

He said, many customers buy edamame to make snacks. Edamame has been known as a healthy food. It contains fiber and antioxidants that can help lower bad cholesterol.

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Sapto told that the idea of planting edamame came from Adaro Foundation. At first, he was doubt, because he never planted the Japan soybeans.

However, with consideration and assistance he got from Adaro Foundation team, he finally tried planting on one plot of land.

The results were pretty good. Then, he added to plant on the other two plots.

"Planting edamame is more profitable. I have experienced it myself," said the middle-aged man smiling.

He said edamame has the same harvest period as other crops in general, that is around 65 days. The maintenance is quite easy, not too troublesome. Just adding fertilizer and spray for leaves and fruit.

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